The Years by Annie Ernaux (Translated by Alison L. Strayer) - an account of one woman's life since the end of the second world war but really a kind of history of the second half of the twentieth century - it's another book that is heavily influenced by Perec and his 'I remember..' methodology

Their Brilliant Careers by Ryan O'Neill - ostensibly a series of biographical sketches of twentieth century Australian writers but in fact a huge po-mo joke. all the writers are fictional and each of the lives intersect creating a grand narrative of duplicity and venality. Even the index is part of the joke.

The Fountain in the Forest - Tony White. A detective story that turns into something far more peculiar as it traces its way back to 84/85, The Battle of the Beanfield, anarchists in the south of France and the revolutionary calendar of the original communards. Like a cross between Perec and David Peace

In a moment of weakness I bought John Carey's memoir 'The Unexpected Professor' to read on the journey to and from Bristol. I certainly wouldn't recommend buying it - the only really interesting bits are the scraps of literary criticism that are dotted throughout. Gave me my usual pangs about not having gone to Oxford, while simultaneously making me relieved that I didn't. I suppose you wonder, as an egghead that didn't go to Oxbridge, whether you could have had your intellect stretched by going there. Where I went to uni it was rare to find somebody on my course that actually admitted to caring about books.